Page 33 of Marked By the Possessive Polar Bear
“I’m glad you’re home, bro,” Adrian says. “I’ll clear out my stuff from your workstation.”
My stomach drops. I didn’t even think of that…
“I don’t know how my bear is going to be,” Magnus says. “You better stick around for a while. We’ll get you your own chair. The shop is busy enough, right, Victoria?”
“Definitely!” I say, smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.
Adrian looks down at me with love bursting out of those gorgeous blue eyes. “I’d be honored to stay.”
My heart swells.
I’m going to be with Adrian forever.
With my crush, with my best friend, with my fated mate.
We each crack a beer before we have to get back to work digging in the mountains. It’s going to be a rough night, but right now, in this moment, it’s all perfect.
The future is spreading out before us—wide open and full of promise.
I lean my head on Adrian’s shoulder and close my eyes.
He’s here.
We’re together.
And this time, nothing’s going to tear us apart.
EPILOGUE
Adrian
Five Years Later…
Today is my five-year anniversary of returning home. Five years of Heat & Ink. Five years of life with my mate.
I can’t imagine life without Victoria. I don’t know how I did it for so long. Life without her truly seems like torture.
When I was letting my polar bear wander around the arctic wilderness, I used to think that was him at his happiest. I thought it couldn’t get any better for him than that.
I can’t help but laugh at that ridiculous thought. Boy was I fucking wrong.
This right here…Thisis my bear at his happiest.
“Hold on,” Victoria says as our four-year-old daughter, Arabella sits on my back, clinging to my white fur.
Pure joy is flowing through my bear as we slowly walk along the stream on our property—my baby cub sitting on my back and my pregnant baby girl walking alongside me.
“Faster, daddy bear,” Arabella says, kicking her legs against me. “Faster!”
My bear picks up the pace, trotting along as Arabella squeals in delight.
We spend the morning exploring the wilderness behind our new house—a gorgeous log cabin on a secluded plot of Montana land—and then we set up a picnic under a tree by the lake.
Arabella is chasing a butterfly in the field as I pull my polar bear back in to enjoy the picnic in my human form.
My beautiful mate is watching me as I stand up, naked as the day I was born. Her pregnant stomach is looking like it’s ready to burst with our next cub, a boy.
I can’t wait to meet him. We already have the perfect name picked out—Lucas.
